Snapshots of life at Middlebury College

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The following is a schedule of an ideal average weekend at Midd (as in, nothing is out of the ordinary but it’s a great time!) All entries are based on true events. See www.middlebury.edu/events for a detailed account of some of the amazing happenings at Midd!

10:00-10:10: Take a leisurely walk to my class in Axinn, my favorite academic building. Analyze the state of the foliage. Say hi to friends on the path. Smile at the same people I pass every Friday at 10:05.

10:10-11:00: Go to my American Studies class with Professor Nash called Livin’ for the City. Discuss and debate readings, integrate current events, and try to stump the unstumpable professor with challenging questions.

11:00-11:15: Go to McCullough Student center to pick up a package (remember, this is my ideal weekend, so grandma sent me cookies!!!!!) and my paycheck for my campus job. Get distracted looking at the bulletin board… will I make it to all of the interesting lectures and events this week?

11:15-12:30: Enjoy a prolonged lunch in Atwater dining hall. It’s Friday, which means it’s burger day. It also means the dining hall might be playing pump up music over the loudspeakers! The sun beats through the floor-to-ceiling windows and I hop from table to table to chat with friends from all different social circles

12:30-1:00: Run over to Bi Hall, our science center, to chat with my geography professor and advisor. We talk about research methodology for my semester-long project on the urbanization of Native Americans, we discuss possible ideals for a future independent study project, and we review which classes I’m registering for the fall (we are both very excited about cartography!)

1:00-5:30: It feels wrong to schedule my Friday afternoons, because the beauty of them lies in their spontaneity. Sometimes it’s a time for laundry and tidying up. On nice days, it’s the perfect window to go for a hike. Occasionally I’ll go to local Drop-In Brewery for a tasting with friends. After especially busy weeks, I curl up in my bed with a book and ginger tea. I love Friday afternoons.

5:30-7:30: Unless something really unusual is happening, I spend Friday evenings with Hillel, the Jewish organization, celebrating Shabbat. We have a service followed by a homecooked meal.

7:30 onward: Hang out with friends… it’s been a busy day. Who knows what tonight will bring!

Saturday

10:30-11:30: Brunch in Ross dining hall. Should I make a Belgian waffle with homemade peanut butter? Local yogurt with homemade granola? Cinnamon swirl pancakes?

11:30-2:30: Do work at Midd Chocolates. Enjoy a mocha with homemade whipped cream and marshmallows along with unlimited chocolate samples. If I need wifi to do work, I might go to the Stone Leaf Teahouse in Marbleworks, another one of my favorite spots.

2:30-4:00: Go on an afternoon adventure to get some exercise and enjoy the Vermont outdoors. Maybe I’ll check out the Trail around Middlebury or Chipman Hill, both within walking distance from campus.

4:00-6:00: Continue doing work or hang out with friends…only time can tell.

6:00-8:00: Cook dinner at home with my housemates. Perhaps we will make a homemade pizza and salad again?

8:00-10:00: Pop by a college-sponsored event with friends. Maybe it will be roller blading in the student center? A Riddim hip hop concert? An a capella performance? A student-produced play in the Hepburn Zoo (the Zoo is a performance space—there are no live animals there)?

Sunday

10:00-10:30: Breakfast in Proctor

10:30-1:30: Head to one of my favorite spots on campus to do some homework: the tables in the back of the library, the Abernathy Room in Axinn, a nook in Bi Hall, the cubicles with amazing natural light in Hillcrest…so many options!

1:30-2:00: Grab more food. We don’t have a swipe system, so why not? The more the merrier!

2:00-4:00: Check out a sporting event with a friend. This weekend we will be attending the Quidditch tournament, which is especially exciting since Muggle Quidditch was created at Middlebury! #BringQuidditchHome

4:00-6:00: Continue catching up with friends, or do homework, depending on the weekend.

6:00-7:00: Grab dinner with a friend I haven’t seen in a while. So much to catch up on!

7:00-11:00: Go home and get ready for the next week. This includes but is not limited to calling mom and dad (normally I’ve already called my mom like 10 times by now, but I’m putting it on the calendar just in case)

Last night, along with hundreds of others in a standing-only, busting-through-doors Mead Chapel, I saw New York Daily News Senior Justice Writer and political activist Shaun King speak on the relevance and reality of the Black Lives Matter movement, and field questions from the audience. As perhaps the most widely shared and circulated writer on my Facebook feed right now, to finally see Mr. King in real life was a fantastic experience. When he first began to speak, his natural ease made the gravity and significance of his points so much more impactful that at some lines, he was met with a deafening wall of silence, completely at a loss because of the truth to that point. To not only see this event, but see it for free and a five minute walk from my suite was incredible.

But this sort of relevance in performance and events is not new to this talk or this year: Middlebury College, and in particular its student leadership, has consistently done a great job bringing things to our campus here in Vermont.

An event that comes to mind for me is last fall’s performance of the King’s Singers, a world-renowned all-male vocal sextet from the UK. These guys. In Mead Chapel. My God, were they good. They performed a two hour set, the first half consisting of classical church hymns and the second half a collection of songs from their album, “Postcards,” traditional songs from various world cultures. I accidentally rose to give them a standing ovation at their penultimate song, but it was well deserved if not poorly timed. They gave an encore performance of Paul Simon’s “Some Folks’ Lives Roll Easy,” and if that wasn’t the most beautiful thing I’ve heard come out of a person’s mouth in my life then I just have no conception of beauty.

It speaks volumes about the College for it to bring such a group here. At my time at Middlebury, I’ve gotten the opportunity to see Donna Brazile speak on the state of politics, watch artists like Chance the Rapper and Misterwives live in an intimate, small college venue, and that’s on top of the range of visiting scholars and academics that come pretty much every week for smaller lectures and discussions. This past Friday we had our annual International Politics and Economics symposium on the global illicit drug trade, featuring researchers on the subject from top organizations and programs, and next week the primary Art Critic from the Wall Street Journal will visit campus.

And on top of all the wonderful student acts and performances, I think seeing these events is when I feel luckiest to be at Middlebury.

Halloween has always been one of my favorite holidays. I’ve dressed up on the whole spectrum of costumes from the classics (witch, ghost) to puns (taping two quarters on me to be “50 Cent”) to completely random (an olive… just an olive. Not sure where I came up with that one). We’ve had pumpkins out in my suite since the beginning of the month, and had costumes planned from the beginning of the school year. As college students, you may think we’re pushing the limit of acceptable trick-or-treating age. You’d be right. However, that doesn’t mean we don’t get into the holiday spirit in our own way here on campus. This past weekend, MCAB hosted its very first Haunted House, and I got to be part of it!

MCAB is the Middlebury College Activities Board, a student group in charge of organizing fun campus events including concerts, speakers, dances, and themed events like the Haunted House. They’re responsible for bringing performers to campus, which is great because the concerts are affordable and convenient for Middlebury students to attend. In my time here we’ve had some big names like Chance the Rapper, Matt and Kim, T-Pain, Borns, and many more. MCAB is allotted a hefty budge to host these types of events, and as students we get a say in how that money is spent.

Any student can submit suggestions for a campus-wide event they’d like to see happen, and this year people showed interest in a Haunted House. MCAB took that idea and ran with it, going all out with spooky decorations and incredible costumes and makeup. It was held in the Bunker, an open performance space that was converted into a dark maze with various themed rooms. They recruited actors and affiliates of the theater department like myself to perform as zombies, mummies, prisoners, ghosts, and other scary figures.

I may have gotten a little too into character as a creepy haunted spirit (black and white face paint can do that to you), but we all had so much fun. I guess we all played our parts well, because we managed to make some guys on the baseball team scream like little kids. All my friends who went through the house said they were genuinely terrified, which means the event was a success! I decided to keep my costume on for the rest of the night because at that point I was committed, although I did notice other students keeping their distance from me as we crossed paths. I later realized that the friendly smile I had on just made me look like even more menacing with my blackened eyes and lips and long, ragged dress. Oh well – all in the Halloween spirit!

Harvest Festivals: All of the best things come together at harvest festivals: fresh food, great friends, fall weather, and live music. Whether at Middlebury’s very own Organic Farm, the town co-op, or Shelburne Farms, you’re sure to leave with a full stomach and a replenished soul.

Walk/jog/run in and around Middlebury: Take the foot bridge for a fantastic view of the Otter Creek Falls, saunter in an out of local shops, and get to know this picturesque New England town in a personal way. For a more extensive adventure, discover the Trail Around Middlebury (“the TAM”) for eighteen miles of fun.

See the views from above: For an iconic view of fertile Addison County overlooking Lake Champlain and the Adirondack Mountains, check out Snake Mountain. In less than an hour, you can experience an unparalleled view of fall foliage. If you hate hiking, fear not! You can get permission to take the elevator up to the roof of McCardell Bicentennial Hall (our science center) for a 360 degrees view of campus.

I took my grandparents on the roof of Bi Hall and they loved it!

Fall Family Weekend: Whether you have family visiting or not, Fall Family Weekend is the perfect time to take advantage of fabulous fall activities. Take the free shuttle to the Middlebury College Snow Bowl (our very own ski mountain!) and ride the chairlift to see the foliage from up above.

Swim: Yes, the water is freezing, but the thrill is so worth it. Some of my favorite bodies of water for swimming are Dog Team, The Middlebury Gorge, Bristol Falls, Falls of Lana, Silver Lake, Lake Dunmore and, if you’re up for the trek, Warren Falls.

Class Outside: Convince your professors to have a class outside. Get the best parts of Middlebury all in one moment by engaging in thought-provoking conversations while enjoying the natural beauty that surrounds you.

I had an amazing Portuguese class sitting in this grass

Homecoming: There’s nothing like seeing friends who have graduated back on campus. The Midd spirit abounds, whether over meals in the dining halls or over cheers at athletic events.

Eat a maple creemee: Try Vermont’s version of soft serve ice cream in its best form before the weather gets too cold. Rainbow sprinkles are a must.

Picnic: Grab a to-go box from Proctor and head to the Organic Farm for a sunset dinner. Or, if you’re feeling adventurous, drive to Champlain Bridge on the Vermont/New York border for what’s guaranteed to be a magical sunset moment.

There’s no better way to start off senior year than a dinner by the lake with friends!

I am finally wrapping up my last first week of college. It couldn’t sound like more of a cliche, but I feel like I started my freshman year at Middlebury only yesterday, and it hasn’t sunk in that I’ll be graduating in less than a year. But I’ll save the soppy graduating-senior-blues themed post for later in the year!

When I signed up to write a blog post about my first week back at Middlebury, I had planned to tell you all about my first week on campus as a freshman and compare it to my first week back as a senior—somekind of reflective exercise that would demonstrate just how far I had come and how much I had matured over the course of my time here. After all, my first week on campus back in 2013 was something of a blurry trainwreck – I was late to just about every single class and was That Freshman who carried around a wallet full of bright green “add” cards for classes that I hadn’t been able to register for. After making my way off the waitlist for a highly coveted class, I managed to sleep through my alarm, missing the class entirely. Needless to say, it was a long week, and one during which I kept my mom on speed dial. But, every cloud has a silver lining—duringthat chaotic first week, I was directed to multiple classes by helpful professors and students, demonstrating to me what a tight-knit community I had joined. I met one of my closest friends sitting on the floor of a classroom in Twilight Hall, both of us having arrived too late to snag a chair. We still laugh about that fateful encounter today.

I wish I could report that as a senior, my first week back on campus after the summer was smooth and painless, and that I appeared to all as the cool, collected and mature adult I had hoped that I would one day become. But, alas, that would have been too easy. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised that my last first week of class bore a strikingly uncanny resemblance to my first first week of class. As a senior, I know I should have this song-and-dance nailed down, but I somehow found myself sprinting across campus to make it to class on time (apparently we have an academic building called Adirondack House.. It was news to me, too!) with a stack of “add” cards in hand. But there have been silver linings to this week, too. Seeing my friends after the summer has been a wonderful reminder of the many incredible relationships I’ve formed over the course of my time at Middlebury, while having the opportunity to discuss my senior thesis ideas with my advisor reminds me of how far I’ve progressed at Middlebury, despite still feeling somewhat like a headless chicken. I’ve accepted that I will probably never have a semester that I don’t start without a stack of add-cards in hand—my curious and indecisive personality combined with the incredible number of interesting courses at Middlebury makes it pretty tough to commit to just four classes. But with the dust finally settling on my first week as a senior, I could not be more excited about all the adventures to come and all the wonderful fall-themed food coming my way.

Till the next post! ~ Francesca

Here is an irrelevant picture of a sunrise over the Green Mountains that I took last week.

These shows (disclaimer: I only watch them on planes) instill a sense of adventure, possibility and wonder. Like anything is possible. Really? You can layer pan fried bison on a bed of stewed jelly, and it will taste good? Even gourmet?

Done well, these shows will spur initiative. The ingredients are presented in such aesthetically delightful kitchen ware. You can even buy the proper accoutrements on screen. The idea is: you have the tools to make these dishes come true. And the time is now.

As seniors, we’ve been “cooking” for three and a half years now. Admittedly some dishes tastier than others. But on balance, we’re getting by. In most cases, thriving.

But there is always that time that you’re flying Jet Blue from Burlington to New York and the cooking channel comes on. You’re overcome with a sense of newness and a near-frantic feeling that this dish is now or never. Like maybe the old dishes you’ve been cooking haven’t really been as good as you think.

So, you try cooking the primo-deluxe fish dish. You buy the ingredients, make the dish, and serve it up. Your company enjoys the filet. It’s a hit!

This newness is so important for us as students, like hiking Buck Mountain for the first time, or joining the jazz ensemble as a second semester senior. Like successfully tracking down the ever-elusive Heady Topper, or meeting a new friend. These tasty new “dishes” excite and rejuvenate. It’s what keeps things interesting.

But when the newness fades and the buzz quiets, we return to what we know and love. We remember that we actually enjoyed subsisting on peanut butter and ramen. Our first friends are some of the most meaningful – the things that made us happy still do. It’s what we’ve been doing for the last three years, and it’s worked beautifully.

Of course, Middlebury’s unlimited dining plan sort of muddles this whole analogy anyway. Rarely do I prepare my own meals here. But the point remains: exploring the new, because I feel like I’m running out of time, has renewed my love of the old.

This past Thursday, I had the privilege of participating in a roundtable conversation with Mary Lou Finley. A primary organizer for the Chicago Freedom Movement (1965-1967), she worked closely with some of the leading civil rights activists of the era—from Martin Luther King, Jr. to James Bevel. She was just emerging from college then, but in decades in between she has continued to valiantly push for greater social and economic equality. Mary Lou is now a professor of sociology at Antioch University in Seattle; additionally, she leads trainings with various civil rights organizations.

Her years of organizing experience show. She greeted us with compassionate confidence, listened deeply, and offered humble reflections on the arc of race relations and social change in late 20th and early 21st century America. In what became a fluid conversation, students, faculty, and community members engaged in a moving discussion of the troubled times in which we find ourselves today.

Moments like Thursday night have proved essential over my four years at Middlebury. It is all too easy at times to let immersion into the thriving campus life here supplant engagement with the outside world. But it is essential to remember that they are not mutually exclusive. As a history major, I have come to understand the inseparable links between past and present, campus and (world) community.

Our beautiful campus may be far away from some of the sites we have seen mentioned in the news lately. But in its distance lies the root of the intense sense of community here. Here, where a group of committed citizens can so passionately and respectfully discuss avenues for making our world a better place. Here, where the lines between professor, student, and townsperson blur. Here, where we learn to engage.

In a period of strife and social conflict, college campuses should be spaces of engagement, of conversation, of introspection and outward-looking action.

Mary Lou reminded us Thursday night of the successes and the unfinished work of history. It is our role as students and citizens of the world to carry that work forward.

Since this year began it hasn’t really hit me that I am a senior in college. When the school year started I pushed away any sadness and anxiety I felt that this is my last year at Middlebury because I kept telling myself that 9 months was a long time and so there was really no use in thinking about it too much. I spent the past two months enjoying the weather (it has truly been the most beautiful fall I have experienced in Vermont), working on my thesis, and pushing off any and all thoughts of job applications and my future. However, now that it is the first week of November and there are officially more leaves on the ground than there are on the trees, the blissful ignorance that I have been enjoying up until this point is no longer a sustainable mindset with which I can operate in.

This past weekend I attended my final Middlebury Panthers Football game as a Midd kidd, I handed in the first section of my History thesis, and I checked an item off my my senior year bucket list, which seems to be growing longer and less doable everyday. This week I will be registering for my last semester of college classes and attending Middlebury’s 200 days party (a party that celebrates the fact that seniors only have 200 days left until graduation.) Pretending I’m not graduating has ceased to be possible, and though I am sad and anxious about life after Middlebury, I still believe it is way to soon to give into those worries. I want to change my attitude and embrace my senior year without only thinking about the fact that it is my last year of college. I want to take advantage of Middlebury and do as much as I can, while acknowledging that my bucket list will never be completed– and that’s okay! Ultimately, I want to try and find the balance between enjoying the next 200 days and living my life here at Middlebury to the fullest, while still being able to reflect on the fact that these are my last 200 days of college and that should be factored into how I approach them.

Three weeks have already passed in the fall semester, and now the winds are picking up, the leaves are changing color. Since I traveled abroad last fall, I feel like it has been a long time since I have experienced the beautiful Vermont fall. It has been a busy first few weeks here at school, maybe due to the late start this year. The Clifford Symposium, which happened last weekend, was an excellent event. This was actually my first time attending the Clifford Symposium and I am sad that I haven’t had the opportunity until my Senior Year, but I am glad that I got to at least once! This years topic was “the good body” and how that is defined. I had the privilege of attending Eli Clare’s Friday morning discussion of the notions of what a “bad body” is. Clare has cerebral palsy and discussed how judgements of disabilities have played into his life. By the end of the talk, he related disability and access to Middlebury College. he asked about reflecting on the opportunities and accessibility of becoming a Middlebury student. Being a senior and looking back on my Middlebury experience, this is a question I have recently been thinking about …and maybe by the end of the year I will be able to come up with an answer! For now, I will just say that I am so grateful for the opportunities that I have been given to come to such a school and for the opportunities the school has given me for the future.

Hello everyone. Glad you found your way to our wonderful Senior Fellow Blog, the best place to get all the insider tips from real Middlebury Seniors about everything from the best Chicken Parm-Pasta pairings to the latest updates on Gossip Squirrel.

My name is Nicolas, one of the eight Admissions Senior Fellows in the Admissions Office. But wait! What is an Admissions Senior Fellow?? you ask. We are a group of Seniors who love Middlebury so much we were selected to give Campus Information Sessions daily to all of our phenomenal visitors to the campus.

The Senior Fellow program began because we found that our Admissions Counselors were a bit busy getting out to amazing high schools all across the country in the fall and reading awesome apps in the spring, that at the end of the day we wanted to give them a much deserved break. So while during the summer you may have an Information Session with an Admissions Counselor, during the Fall you get to have one with one of the eight Senior Fellows! Each of our information sessions are different, although they all will combine lots of facts about the college with fond annecdotes from our time here.

And What is this blog I found myself on?Who is Gossip Squirrel? Well Gossip Squireel is the name of one of Midd’s most curious squirrels on campus and this blog is about all the personal, fun, exciting, anxious, scary, adventurous, funny experiences that comes with being a Senior at Middlebury! This blog is really our chance to take some times to reflect on our three years here, and give you some insights that we’ve learned along the way!

So welcome, sit back, relax, and we hope you enjoy all the stories to come!